Cooped Up for Christmas - Sabrina York Page 0,36

nodding at the mounds of snow on the windowsills.

I glared at him. “Be nice. And let me think.”

“Mungo’s an ordained minister.”

I gaped at him for a second. “What?”

“Yeah. He was ordained online, but it’s legal.”

“Coop, I don’t even know if they have a license.”

“Do you care?”

Of their own accord, my lips curled. “If they don’t, they’ll have to do all this again.”

He chuckled. “And that would be a problem for these people…why?” His expression was wicked and delicious and, okay, that got me. I laughed out loud and, magically, all my stress melted away.

This, I decided, was going to be the fanciest, most fantabulous wedding ever, whether it was legal or not.

He kissed me and headed out to check on the snowmobiles that had been delivered for tomorrow. Because tomorrow was now a wedding, he decided to shift snow play to today to give us a chance to breathe.

While Coop and his team took the more adventurous guests out on snowmobiles, I started making calls. I was able to reach a local church that had a string quartet (of high school students) willing to come out and perform the day after Christmas. I nearly kissed my cell phone at that. Then Ken and I put our heads together over the decorations, but I’ll be honest and say he did most of the work. He’s kind of a genius that way.

We couldn’t start actually decorating until the guests vacated the living room, and Wren regularly reported that some were still drinking coffee, opening presents, and chatting, so that meant more time for me to get my head together.

Had it been this crazy when I was a kid? I didn’t remember it being this insane. Had I not noticed because I hadn’t cared as much? Or had my instincts heightened over the years, providing me with an almost superhuman ability to predict disasters?

Or, maybe—and humor me on this one—these people brought the cray-cray with them in one of their enormous suitcases.

At any rate, I locked myself in my room—didn’t even let Mason and Lola in—and just. Got. Centered.

I took several slow, deep breaths in and out, because I’d read somewhere that it helps calm the mind. It didn’t work, but it felt nice, so I did it again.

All right. I need a wedding in twelve hours. I pictured the wedding in my head, the way I would want it done, and started scribbling notes. Dress, rings, flowers, veil, cake, tiara. Was anything else required?

The cake was no problem for Noel, and I was pretty sure Farley and her posse could cover all the rest. I knew for a fact they had at least two tiaras, not counting Lola’s. So beyond that, we needed decorations—Ken was on that—music, which was coming and…a wedding breakfast.

I made a face. Noel was going to shit a brique when I informed him.

I headed directly for his quarters. Now that the big brunch was over, he’d retreated into his room. After he responded to my knock with a blasé, “Entre,” I poked my head inside and grinned.

“Hey Noel,” I said in a super-cheerful voice. “Farley and Jamison want to get married tomorrow! Can you make a wedding cake? They also want a wedding breakfast buffet before they leave.”

Were they really leaving tomorrow? Oh, glory hallelujah.

Noel did not share my enthusiasm…about any of it. His eyes, and nostrils, flared. “Tomorrow? Merde!”

As I had suspected, the highly-strung chef did not take the news well. He had a hissy fit at the very least. Again, it was in French, and far beyond my schoolgirl vocabulary, so I ignored it. He calmed down a little after Whit informed me that all the guests would be going out for dinner tonight to celebrate at a fancy-schmancy restaurant. I didn’t mention the fancy-schmancy part to Noel, because I didn’t want him to have apoplexy. Fancier than moi? I could practically hear him gesticulate.

However, when he realized that he could take the rest of the night off, once he finished the cake, he was all smiles.

The guests actually left early for their dinner. Judging from their body language, they were getting cabin fever—my favorite kind of fever, because everybody wants to leave the house. Heck, I was at the front of the line waving them good bye.

As soon as they disappeared from sight, everyone sprang into action. I’d already had a meeting with my team, so they all knew what needed to be done and in which priority. Not that I have OCD.

Decorations for the